


The Saint Within the Sinner

by LoriliaUniverse



Category: Saints Row
Genre: Adult Content, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, off-canon events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:44:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3006035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoriliaUniverse/pseuds/LoriliaUniverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheldon Cooper wasn't looking for anything more than violence when he joined the Saints after being discharged from the marines. What he found was something he never thought he wanted.</p><p>The Boss has lived her life taking everything and anything she wanted, and she's lost so much more than what she could ever take. But she never found what she was missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> Yooo so this fic is in Sheldon's point of view, who, as you might've figured out, is an original character. The Boss' POV will also be explored a little.
> 
> The story starts right at the beginning of Saints Row 3 and will continue throughout the 4th game. I might break up the story in parts if I decide that it is too long and I will go off-canon to make things a little more interesting. ;)

To be perfectly honest, I don't believe in soulmates. Even now. Its a nice idea, and I would like to believe that there is someone out there for everyone, but I don't. I think I'm not optimistic enough for the idea. Even if soulmates existed, there is 7 billion people on Earth, the chances of running into "the one" are slim to nothing. 

Then again, when I met her, it was like a freight train slammed into me and woke me up from whatever lifetime long haze I was in. But even we are far from a perfect match. We are, as she so fondly dubs it, "begrudgingly in love". Which is a perfect way to describe us. We're just two blind idiots who were able to find each other among the other various blind idiots who wonder this world.

But soulmates? I don't believe in soulmates. But I do believe in her, in us.

  Whatever that may entitle.


	2. A BLANK SLATE

I grew up in Stilwater. Dirty, crime-ridden, ghetto, Stilwater. Where your more likely to get shot then find change on the floor. I just wanted to escape it all. My mom, my pothead gangbanging friends. I wanted desperately to go somewhere far away from my decrepit hometown. I wanted to know that there was something more for me waiting out in the world besides where society told me I was destined to go, a cell. So I decided to join the Marines, a blank slate. I heard about the Saints before I left for basic training, a small group dedicated to cleaning up the streets of Stilwater, but by then it was too late. I didn't believe that Stilwater could be clean, I lost all my hope for the city long ago. 

  While I got my ass handed to me in basic, she was fighting to make Stilwater a better place. I learned how to aim properly, and she mowed down various gangsters, always coming out unhurt, never a scratch on her. I got shipped out to Iraq, and she became second in command of the Saints. I dodged bullets, and she dodged assassination attempts. I got shot, she went into a coma. I was discharged from the military with a bullet wound to the shoulder and a bad case of PTSD while she avoided even more assassination attempts. I think you get the gist of everything. Our lives didn't cross until I got fed up with living off of military pension and decided to go back to doing the only thing I was ever really good at. 

  I went to war.

  Now I'll be the first to admit that joining the Saints wasn't exactly one of my shining moments. But I was young and naive and angry at the world for taking away the one thing I thought I could excel in. For once in my life, I belonged somewhere. And my damned heroics and stubbornness got in the way of that. Of course I joined the Saints. It was the only way I was ever going to be able to see the battlefield again. 

  It wasn't what I expected it to be. 

  It was no surprise to me that I flew past the basic training part of becoming a Saint, which compared to the BT in the marines was a goddamn tea party. I surpassed all expectations and impressed the legates of the Saints: Johnny Gat and Pierce Washington. I would have been starstruck, if I held them at some sort of importance then. But I didn't. They were just hoops to jump through to me then. So jump through I did. 

  I never imagined they would contribute to me getting my first position in the Saints, but two days later I was informed that I was invited to meet with the Boss of the Saints. I didn't know what to think, I've heard a lot about the woman and her exploits but she seemed almost divine, mysterious, and mad as hell. I wondered why she wanted to meet me in particular and what kind of a person she would be. The media portrayed her as some sort of power hungry lunatic with a serious drinking problem and a affixation on destruction. It turns out they where only half right. 

  

  I waited for the Boss in front of the old Saints Cathedral that Ultor had remodeled, she took it as her home when the Saints really started to become a media giant (at the great displeasure of Ultor), no one but her top lieutenants were allowed inside. But from the exterior it looked as though she had returned it to it's original state when the Saints ran out of it. I had no desire to see the inside like most of the new recruits who gossiped like teenage girls over her. They revered her, put her up on some pedestal, worshipped the ground she walked on. They where hardcore fans. But me? All I cared about was having things to shoot at again. I looked at the Saints and only saw the battlefield again, the Boss was just my commander, and I was more than happy to kill whomever she ordered me to. I gripped my assault rifle tightly to my chest, feeling whole once more with its weight on me. The screech of tires interrupted my thoughts. 

  A small golf kart hurled toward where I stood. I had heard of the Boss' odd taste in vehicles but I had never imagined this. The kart was upgraded to its furthest extent, with golden rims and a dark purple paint job. The seats looked like expensive leather and she…she was dressed in a Johnny Gat costume. 

  She pulled up next to me, standing shocked on the curb, and looked at me from the pair of designer sunglasses she was wearing. Her purple eyes studied me for a moment then her dark red lips stretched into a smile. She moved the Johnny Gat mask she had on the passenger's seat to the back of the kart and flipped her hair in a dramatic fashion, the iridescent pink and purple colors coming out in the sunlight. Even then she was breathtakingly beautiful, when she was close to the brink of her insanity. 

  "And you must be Sheldon Cooper." She said as if she was having a previous conversation. "I heard a lot about you from your fan." 

  "My fan?" I asked, confused. 

  "Gat likes people who can shoot like you can. He says it reminds him of him." She answered offhandedly, put off by the memory. "Anyways get in loser we're going bank robbing." She motioned for me to get in the kart. I decided to amuse her and obeyed her motion. 

  "Nice wheels by the way," I commented. I'm unsure if she caught my sarcasm because she smiled brightly at me.

  "Just wait until you see how fast she can go." We took off at the speed of a minivan, which was admittedly faster than I initially thought we would be able to go, so I was impressed slightly. "So whats your story Cooper?" She asked me while driving. 

  "What do you mean Boss?" 

  "Why'd you join the Saints?" She put simply. 

  "For the action," I immediately answered. I am nothing if not aware of myself. She laughed abruptly.

  "Well you'll see plenty of that if you hang out with me," she said. "Its almost like I have a sign taped to my back that says I like to be fucked with." I chuckled at that. 

  "I know that feeling, in BT the Sargent hounded my ass until I could shoot better than any of the other guys in my until blindfolded." 

  "Ah military man, i knew you had to have had some sort of basic training to fly past conditioning like that." She stated. "Why did you leave?" 

  "Discharged," I answered her shortly. "The Saints seemed almost like a fresh start for me." 

  "Ah un collega angelo caduto che cerca la sua santità. Siamo molto simili in quel modo." She spoke in another language, but upon seeing the confused look on my face, realized her words. "Relax Cooper, occasionally I slip into my father's tongue. But I am in the good habit of always translating myself." I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. "I said that the Saints is like that for most rookies, and I can see why; it was like that for me." Before I could reply, she pulled up to the old Stillwater Hotel. The bank she referred to was an new installment across the street from it. Her top lieutenants had already gathered in an alleyway, and for some reason Josh Birk aka Nyteblade from that horrible vampire show. 

  The Boss' lieutenants consisted of exactly three people. Shaundi, Pierce Washington, and Johnny Gat. She had chosen all three of them to be the faces of the Saints/Ultor Media group while she ran the day to day operations of the gang. Some people wonder why she elected not to be among them as international celebrities, but I could see why. 

  "Boss, why is he here?" Shaundi asked and gestured to Birk, who was standing too close to her with a stupid grin on his face. 

  "Easy Shaundi," the Boss dodged her question with a remark on her calmness. "Josh is just here to study a role." The Boss picked up a duffle bag that sat on the floor next to Gat while Shaundi huffed some more to herself. 

  "And who's the new kid?" Shaundi asked instead. 

  "Sheldon Cooper," I extended my hand for her to shake but she only looked down upon it like it was something distasteful. Pierce swooped in and took it instead, saving me the embarrassment of returning my hand to my side. I nodded a silent thanks toward him. 

  "Shaundi, Pierce, this is Sheldon. He's that new recruit Gat won't shut up about." The Boss introduced, her focus still on the duffle bag she was now looking through. "I decided to see if he could handle how we do things in the Saints." 

  "Have you've already been through initiation?" Pierce asked, smiling at me; trying to joke around. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. 

  "Unfortunately." Gat laughed.

  "Remember your initiation Boss?" He asked as she rose from looking in the bag. She smirked at him, an expression I never knew could be both flirtatious and dangerous at the same time. "I still think I hold that record." 

  "That you do Gat," she replied and looked around. She signaled for everyone to put on their voice changers. "Let's do this shit." She said her voice now deeper than my own. 

  

  Upon entering the bank the lieutenants put on their masks, Pierce having left to go get a helicopter after the Boss ram through the plan again. She was the only one of them wearing the full Johnny Gat outfit. Birk carried the duffle bag of what figured out where explosives and I wondered why he would agree to carry it for a moment until the elevator doors opened and the Boss motioned for us to start. 

  "I still don't get why we have this asshole around with us." Shaundi complained loudly, her voice modified. 

  "Cut Josh some slack Shaundi he's just researching his role." The Boss said, sounding final on the issue. 

  "Yeah well I hoped he signed a wavier." I heard the Boss sigh then she shot the ceiling a few times to get everyone's attention in the bank. 

  "Alright people," She yelled over the people's panic. "You know the drill." I tried my best to look like I belonged there with the Saints while the Boss lined people up to take photos with her, having taken off the mask. I pondered why she even decided to wear it, as I waved my gun around at the crowd; trying and failing at looking intimating. She began taking photos with the people and I let myself feel disappointed. 

  I mean what did I expect? The Saints aren't the hardcore street gang that took out the most powerful gangs in America anymore. They changed after the Boss' two year coma and joining forces with Ultor. Softened. The only action I was going to see was this publicity stunt. It was enough of a reality check for me to wish that there were more gangs to challenge the Saints. 

  How I regret that wish now. 

  But my battle was just beginning, I looking for a blank slate I'm joining the Saints; but instead I found another war to involve myself in. I thought I had nothing to lose anymore; but I would find that I had more to lose than what I ever had before.

   And it all started with a teller pulling out a military grade weapon out of the register. My military life ended with a bullet to my shoulder, it was only fitting that this life began with one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Boss will always translate what she is saying, or at least a version of it, in English. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. A LEAP OF FAITH

"Well fuck me," Is all that I said in reaction to the bullet that had pierced through the vest I was wearing and got to my skin. Almost exactly where the other bullet had penetrated my shoulder blade. But at least that bullet had the common curtsey to go through my shoulder and not just sit there allowing me to feel the full blast of the hit. The shot had knocked me to the ground but I could hear even more gun shots flying over me. They died down after a few seconds and I heard Gat tell the Boss that they're advancing to the next room behind the tellers stations. The Boss quickly came to my side, after the rest of the group had left.

"Having fun down there?" She asked mockingly, towering over me. 

"Spare me the attacks on my already wounded pride and help me up." I responded exasperatedly.

"You got it sarge," The Boss said with a feeble salute. She laughed at her own joke and went to my left shoulder, the one that hadn't been shot twice now, and helped me to my feet. "Can you hold a gun crippy? Or am I going to have to court marshal your ass on your first real firefight?" I unzipped the Saints jacket I wore and threw it on the floor. I attempted to remove the bullet from the vest, but to no avail. The Boss rolled her eyes and moved to take it out for me. It would've been an moment but she was still in her Johnny Gat costume, without the huge mask. She managed to work it out and tossed it across the room. She looked up at me, her violet eyes meeting my steel blue eyes, before pulling away. 

"I'm a soldier Boss." I replied. She nodded slowly and picked up her designer 45 Shepherd pistols. We heard gunshots overhead and the laughter of one Johnny Gat.

"That you are Cooper, come on, if we catch up we might be able to shoot a couple of these assholes before Johnny wipes them out." She told me and started running toward the double doors that led farther into the bank. I rubbed my shoulder, glad that I decided to wear the vest, and followed her. 

 

"How long do you think it'll take Pierce to get here with the copter?" Shaundi asked.

"I dunno," the Boss said shooting a SWAT member. "Maybe like 3 waves of SWAT guys?" She joked. I couldn't help but to laugh. 

"Sounds about right." I replied and the Boss smiled at me, her eyes filled with a mad sort of joy that I couldn't help but to find slightly attractive. Before anyone else could comment, a flash of light blinding light stunned us. 

"Flashbang!" Shaundi yelled over the beeping sound. I readied my assault rifle while turning my head away from the light. The flash faded and more SWAT guys busted in through the windows.

We made quick work of the last of the SWAT members, but our small victory was short lived as an enemy helicopter reared outside of the giant hole in the wall made by the explosion of the charges. I took a moment to think of where the hell Birk went after he screwed us by setting off an alarm. I swore if I ever saw him again he was going to pay. 

"A fucking attack copter, really?" Shaundi shouted over the noise.

"Who the hell are we robbing?" The Boss asked. 

"Fucking assholes." Gat answered. "Unload all you got on the copter!" I exhaled slowly and turned my gun on the helicopter, thinking it wouldn't do any good. 

After unloading a couple of magazines into the helicopter it flew away, but I knew it wasn't down yet. Our ride showed up and the Boss motioned for us to help her put the hooks on the vault. 

"Let's go Pierce!" She yelled and tugged on the rope to indicate to Pierce that the vault was hooked. 

"Where is she going?" I asked Shaundi and Gat, seeing the Boss taking off on top of the vault. Another wave of SWAT members bursted in to keep us occupied.  
"With the vault." Gat answered and shrugged his shoulder as if this wasn't an completely insane thing to do. 

"What the hell is she thinking?" 

"Quit bitching, she'll be fine, she's done worst." Shaundi added in. 

"Well that was before I joined up." I said before storming off to find the way to the roof. I swear I heard Gat say: "If he wants to play bodyguard, let him" which only fueled me to find the roof access faster. 

 

All hell broke loose on the roof, SWAT guys flooded the place and the Boss was left out in the open literally dangling from the vault. I knew it had been a bad idea for her to ride on it. I tried my best to clear out the roof, taking the SWAT members by surprise, but it seemed as if they where endless. The attack helicopter was back and flying around the bank, whoever was flying it urging the Boss to give up. They obviously didn't know her very well. 

"You can't kill them all!" I heard Pierce say over the comm on the helicopter. 

"I don't appreciate that kind of negativity." The Boss replied, I could hear her insufferable smirk forming from the roof. 

A few moments of SWAT guy murdering was all it took for the helicopter to malfunction and start spinning out of control. Now the Boss was really dangling. I only had seconds to figure out what I was going to do when it became apparent that the vault would drop from the rope it hang from along with the Boss. She was preoccupied shooting the SWAT goons behind me as I decided on a course of action. 

Knowing that what I had decided upon was the only action I could take at that point, I took a deep breath, and I leaped for the helicopter. 

I exhaled when my fingers grasped the rim of the helicopter, holding onto the metal frame for dear life. The Boss looked up at me with her smirk slapped on her face. I ignored the white-hot searing pain that shot through my shoulder as I hanged from the copter. I offered my hand to her and was shocked when she shook her head and jumped off the vault. I had the chance to see her hang from the roof before the helicopter started to fall out of the sky. 

I took the first opportunity I saw to let go of the helicopter and roll on the ground. Most of the impact went to my shoulder, lucky me, that was still injured from hanging off a freaking flying helicopter. I gave myself a chance to catch my breath before running into an alley where I saw Pierce flee. 

"Pierce?" I called out into the dark alley. 

"Shh!" I heard someone said. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get us arrested?" Pierce's voice whispered. 

"They got the Boss," I replied, looking out at the police cars to see her, Gat, and Shaundi in handcuffs. She had an accomplished look about her, even in the oversized Johnny Gat costume. "We should do something." 

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?" I looked over to see Pierce on his phone, texting madly. I never had the patience for the devices myself, so I only carried a small outdated flip phone for calls only. "Deshawn, we need to be picked up. Send someone with a car." He said into his phone, talking to the official "car guy" to the Saints. I met him once before when I first joined up. He seemed like a decent enough guy, has a temper though like most gangbangers. "I don't know why the Boss let that Donnie guy in the Saints, and no I cant do anything about him annoying you. Slap him around if you have to, it worked for her." He ended his call and looked over to me. "You're one crazy motherfucker, you know that." I laughed, somewhat madly at the absurdity of the situation. 

"Sometimes you have to match crazy with more crazy." I said. Pierce gave me an appraising look that only made me laugh harder. 

"Be ready to do a lot of crazy shit with that mindset." When I was done laughing a Saint showed up in a car. We drove away from the crime scene, the red and blue of police sirens flashing farther and farther away from us. 

 

When we heard from the Boss again, it was late at night. Pierce got a text from Shaundi about their situation. He broke the news about Johnny to the crew. Everyone seemed to be grieving as a couple of us rode in helicopters to assist the Boss in robbing an armory. 

Which I didn't agree with, but that never has and never will stop her. 

Pierce had a comm set up so that we can hear Shaundi talking, and the occasional yell from the Boss. It was mostly gunfire coming from it through, the girls sounded like they where tearing through some soldiers. 

"Pierce where the hell are you?" Shaundi asked, getting tired of playing defense. 

"You know me," He replied, I saw the armory coming into view so I readied my assault rifle and hung my legs over the edge of the helicopter. "I love to make an entrance." I started shooting whatever soldiers came into my view, and then I saw her. 

She was out of the comically oversized Johnny Gat costume and into an outfit that hugged her curves. She was smiling and laughing as she shot soldiers with her pistols, and she was magnificent. Her whole face was lit up with some kind of insanity that I knew was bad to be attracted to, but I didn't care. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, that I already knew, but seeing her like this… was something different entirely. She disappeared into the military base, and then shit started to blow up around us. Pierce was freaking out, but I knew it was her with UAV drone controls. The sound of the explosions soothed me, now I was really back on the battlefield as I had wanted. The familiarity of it all sent waves of adrenaline through me, and I was on that high for a while until one of the other helicopters finally picked up the giant bomb the Boss wouldn't leave without. 

She ran out of the base still carrying the UAV case. I helped her onto the helicopter, she seemed pleasantly surprised to see me. 

"Hey soldato, how's the shoulder that has gotten shot twice now?" She asked. I wasn't alarmed that she knew about my shoulder, she probably knew the moment we met.

"Fine, considering all of the shit its been put through lately." I answered. "Soldato?" I repeated in what was probably the whitest version of an Italian accent. She was amused by my pronunciation. 

"Si, tu sei un soldato." She stated. "You are a soldier." She smiled at me. "And so I will treat you as such."


	4. THE SOLDIER

If there was ever a time I didn't want to be reminded of my past military life, it was when I first joined the Saints. But that didn't stop the Boss from reminding me of it every five seconds with mocking salutes or humming the national anthem as I passed when unloading the helicopters with all the shit we picked up at the armory. And the giant fucking bomb she insisted on taking. Frankly, I'm surprised all that shit we stole was able to fit in the small apartment Shaundi's ex-boyfriend let the Saints use.

"Shaundi, you have your own shit to worry about let me and Pierce deal with Loren." I overheard the Boss tell the girl who was no doubt giving her grief over the Morningstar. 

"This is my fight too, its my fault that Johnny-" the Boss pushed Shaundi against a wall suddenly, her eyes narrowed and staring directly at her own bulging eyes.

"Shaundi, listen to me." The Boss said slowly to be sure that the girl listened. "Johnny's death is not your fault, its Loren's." She released her grip on the girl and backed away, a pain in her eyes that quickly flickered to fire. "I need you to stop blaming yourself and get back to making money for the Saints. Got it?" Shaundi closed her eyes for a second and nodded slowly. 

"Your right Boss, Johnny wouldn't have wanted me to grieve over him like this." The Boss offered the girl a small smile. 

"Johnny would've wanted us to make hell for the Morningstar, as I plan to." She turned to Pierce. "What do we know about them?" 

"Jack shit Boss." He reported. The Boss let out a sigh of frustration. "We need to get out there and learn." He suggested. She nodded in agreement and the two Lieutenants left. The Boss saw me standing in the doorway and motioned for me to come and join her on the couch. 

"How goes the war, Soldato?" She asked, that cocky smirk of hers firmly back in place. 

"I think we just got our asses handed to us on a silver platter," I stated bluntly and she nodded to confirm. "But I think we also stumbled on an opportunity to make the Saints better than they were." I added and sat on the old couch next to her. She turned to me, her back leaning on the arm of the couch and her high-heeled boots sitting crossed. 

"I am not blind, Soldato. I know what the Saint's name was becoming, maybe you're right." She said, there was talking and laughing from below us; the rest of the crew settling in. "This is a new opportunity for the Saints, rather than another annoyance." There was a moment of silence. "Let's hope my father can see it that way." She said as she pulled her phone out of he bra, something I've seen female Saints do before. I guess its like having two extra pockets, but I wonder what the phone's condition is after being in there for a while.

"Your father?" I asked, after I got out of my own debate on boob pockets.

"Unfortunately." She said in return, not explaining. She dialed a number and I fell silent as the other line rang from her ear. I heard someone pick up on the other line, a female voice. "Mamma, ho bisogno di parlare con papa." The Boss said. "Si, sto bene." The Boss smiled apologetically at me, knowing I couldn't understand a word she was saying. "Ho bisogno di Aiuto, spiegherò Più avanti, ma e possibile trasferire Denaro sul mio Conto in banca?" There was a man on the other line speaking in an annoyed tone. The Boss smiled into the phone. "Grazie papà." She said before hanging up.

"Spanish?" I asked, curious now. 

"Italian, similar." The Boss sighed and laid back deep into the old couch. "This is going to be a bitch Cooper, I can feel it in my bones." 

"Well no one ever said running a multimedia million dollar gang was easy," I replied smoothly. "Is Shaundi going to be alright? She seemed pretty pissed." 

"She's always pissed about something these days," the Boss said with another sigh. "I should go and see how the boys are doing. Take complaints and bust balls, all of that good shit." She said, sitting further into the couch, making it obvious she didn't want to go anywhere.

"Are you?"

"Fuck no." She smiled at me, a chill ran down my spine wondering if that smile was the last thing her enemies had seen before dying.

"So what's this I hear about you jumping out of a plane?" I changed the subject. Her whole face lit up at the invitation to relive the experience. I couldn't help but to smile back at her as she retold the story excitedly, narrating with her whole body. 

 

Nightmares have been one of the only constant things in my life. Even before I joined the Saints. Dreamless sleep is a virtue to me. Even when I was in a coma for two years, after Julius's betrayal, I had nightmares. But I've never died in a dream, I do not fear death. No, I fear loss; and loss is what drives me.

Johnny had been with me since I joined the Saints, it feels like I've known him all of my life even through our time together was relatively short. He deserves vengeance, but after that I think it is time for me to retire from my life as a gangbanger. Pass on the Saints to Shaundi or Pierce. Maybe open a bowling alley or some shit I don't know, but I do know that I'm tired of seeing people I care about die for me. I'm tired of living a life full of violence and regret. My father and brother were right, this isn't the kind of life I thought it would be; and I don't want to lead it any longer. Not without Johnny.   
The boys left the small apartment what must have been hours ago, some of them went back to Stilwater, and some of them decided to stay here in Steelport as long as I was here. The soldier, Cooper, was one of them. I had a feeling that one had what it takes to be a Saint like Pierce or Johnny, and both of them had liked him. That usually means good things for the Saints. Usually. I tend to trust their instincts instead of my own because of my piss poor judgment in the past.  
My head ached, I don't know if it was from the jumping out of a moving plane twice thing or the stealing weapons from the military thing that made it hurt like it did. Probably both. I looked at the time on my smart phone to see that it was already mid day. 

"Fucking fantastic." I swore to myself under my breath and I searched for Pierce's number on my phone book. I dialed the number and rubbed my eyes as the phone rang on the other end.  
"Boss?" Pierce answered in his usual fashion.

"How's the crew settling in?" I asked, getting up from the old couch I must've fell asleep on while talking to Cooper. I wasn't at all drunk but my whole body still ached like I had a hangover.

"Man, we gotta get a new place. That studio shit ain't working at all." He said.

"Spend too much time in posh hotels?"

"I can't help it if the rest of the world treats the Saints right." 

"It doesn't mean we should get soft." I said while stretching out to see if that would help some of the pain, it didn't. 

"I hear you, listen I say you and me go around the city and see what Steelport has to offer." I looked around the shitty apartment, wondering what the hell else I had to do.

"You've convinced me. Meet me at the park I'll pick you up." I told him. He made a sound of affirmation and hung up. I decided it was time to stop brooding on my nightmares and start inciting my revenge on the Syndicate bastards that killed Johnny.


	5. HELL HOUNDS

"What the FUCK is that thing?" Pierce asked me as we both dodged out of the way of incoming bullets after leaving a Planet Saints.

"Something angry!" I shouted in response as we watched the big brute guy pick up my newly renovated (sort of stolen) Temptress and lift it above his small bald head. We barely had time to jump out of the way of my car as it was thrown directly at us. I grabbed my pistols from the holders on my thighs and started shooting the brute, angry at him. "Stai pagando per questo con la vostra vita stronzo!" I yelled at him in my father's tongue. Threats never sound as good in English as they do in Italian.

The brute responded in feeble attempts to knock me over and swig at me with his gigantic fists, its a good thing I was quick enough to dodge them. Johnny had always bugged me because I didn't have his strength, but god damn it I was fast. I ordered Pierce to focus his fire on the pink Syndicate fuck-tards who where shooting at us, but I still had to dodge bullets and the brute. Pierce is not a good cover man. 

I unloaded clip after clip on the brute and all it did to him was bring him to his knees for a bit, then he got right back up and started fighting. I was starting to see that my tactic of firing madly at him was not working when he did it a third time. So I got frustrated and decided to do something stupid, like most of my decisions. 

I ran up to the brute when he was on his knees with an grenade I had picked up from one of the Morningstar and shoved it in his mouth after taking out the pin. Out of spite, like the rest of my decisions, I punched him to the ground before running the fuck away. I really wasn't expecting it my method to work, but it blew his head right off. I laughed and dove into the first working car I saw, whistling for Pierce to get in. He caught his breath while I sped off away from the scene.

"Did you see the way he was shrugging off bullets?" Pierce managed to say between his heavy breathing.

"Yeah, well he's dead now." I responded, trying to focus on not hitting anything or anyone while driving.

"Damn right he is with the way you shoved a fucking active grenade in his mouth!" He said, exhausted. I laughed at how winded he was. 

"You need to get back in shape Pierce, I was right about you spending too much time in lush hotels." I teased.

"Fuck you Boss." I laughed even harder. He nursed his shoulder, rolling it around. "Drop me off here, I need to see a man about information." I quirked my eyebrow at him. 

"Information about..?" Pierce shook his head, smiling, as I did as he instructed.

"Its a surprise Boss." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Surprises are boring."

"You love surprises motherfucker." He said as he got out of the Morningstar car.

"Not the kind that go boom." He laughed.

"Especially the kind that go boom." 

 

The Boss had called me about a job and told me to meet her at the airport. I did wonder what kind of job she had meant, hopefully something that involved shooting.

"Soldato! I'm over here!" An accent that could only belong to the Boss called out to me as I got out of the Saint's Torch car I had borrowed from Donnie; whom Deshawn wanted nothing to do with anymore. The Boss waved me over. She was wearing an elegant black dress that hugged her hourglass figure and was open in all of the right places. She looked like a supermodel. "We're waiting for Shaundi and Pierce now." She said and it snapped me out of my own, perverted, thoughts. "And my eyes are up here." She added on casually, whipping her phone out from I don't know where. I felt my face getting warmer by the second, praying to every God I knew of for the other two to get there quickly.

"I heard about the brute." I said to try to change the subject. The Boss knew what I was doing, I could tell by her coy smirk, but let me.

"You missed out Cooper, it was glorious." She told me. "Il cane Infernale combattuto bene, the hell spawn put up a good fight."

"Not good enough apparently." She laughed at my poor excuse of a joke. "But I could say the same thing about all of the gangs you've taken down." The Boss' features automatically went sorrowful. Like she regretted her actions in cleaning up Stilwater.

"Are the Saints really different from any of those other gangs though Soldato? Or are we really only Vice Kings who wear purple?" She asked me.

"Of course the Saints are." I answered honestly. She seemed taken back at my bluntness. "The only difference between the Saints and the Vice Kings is you Boss." 

"What do you mean?" I looked at the Boss in her odd violet eyes, thinking she was like fire and ice. 

"The Saints wouldn't be what they are today without you. The way Donnie explains it, the Saints would have died when Julius Little disbanded them and them blew you up on a boat. The only reason we exist today was because you couldn't just accept death and defeat." The Boss smiled at me sadly. I didn't think sorrow fit her face. "The Vice Kings tore themselves apart because of you. What do you think would've happened if you joined them instead?"

"Shit I almost did." She said, but before she could explain Shaundi and Pierce drove up. "There you are! Sheldon and I thought you two had ditched us to make out." Both of them groaned, obviously not happy with one another. I sat back and enjoyed the Boss teasing them.

"Shut up and let's do this." Pierce interrupted finally and went to start the helicopter. Shaundi rolled her eyes and followed him to get into shotgun. I looked over to the Boss who was smiling madly at me.  
I knew I wasn't going to like whatever she had to tell me then.

"You never told me what we're doing." I said after a few seconds of starting at each other.

"Oh? I didn't notice." She replied with fake innocence. "Get in the heli Soldato, we have a party to crash." That wasn't an answer to my question, but I decided to roll with it.

"You got it Boss." She whipped around quickly, giving me a quizzical look.

"Its Maria." She said.

"Huh?" 

"My name is Maria Bello, you calling me Boss all of the time just doesn't sound right." She explained and turned back around to get into the helicopter.

Maria Bello, Boss of the Saints.

It has a ring to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!


	6. RITUAL OF SIN

"What ya thinking Boss?" Pierce asked from the pilot's seat as the Boss looked down upon the penthouse, or our new crib.

  "Some asshole is in my pool." She answered humorously. She moved back into the helicopter and smirked at me, I knew this wouldn't be good. "You might want to mentally prepare yourself Soldato." 

  I raised my eyebrows at her. "Why?" I dared to ask. She grabbed two parachutes and threw one of them at me. I didn't have enough time to object before she jumped out of the helicopter tackling me, and effectively pushing me out with her. I corrected myself mid-air and pulled my chute as soon as I got it on my back. I've jumped out for helicopters before but usually it was voluntary, so when we landed on the roof of the penthouse I crossed my arms and tried my best to look stern at the Boss. She smirked at me, her lips gleaming dark red. 

  "Remind me that we need to go shopping later." She said. 

  "Shopping? Aren't we supposed to be shooting guys or something?" I asked her, confused at where her mind was as of right now.

  "Its called multitasking Soldato, I can shoot these assholes and think about shopping. Let's go." She said, and I followed her down a set of stairs to the party. Fortunately it seemed that no one noticed our grand entrance, but the Boss showed obvious disappointment over that fact. We walked over to the pool area before she pulled out one of her designer pistols and shot into the air to get the Morningstar's attention. Kanye West's song "Power" played through the speakers, a song I thought was oddly fitting for what we where doing. "You know its rude to start a party without your host." She said and I openly laughed at the statement. She gave me a wink before everyone in the place started shooting at us. 

  I grabbed the first Morningstar bastard I saw and used him as my shield as I began to mow the over Morningstar down. It was all instinctive at that point. It's an old soldier's coping process, to detach yourself from the world completely. View the world in the eyes of God, my old sarge would say. And maybe it would work for me if I believed in a God. 

  "Come on Cooper! You're falling way behind!" I heard the Boss shout at me from the penthouse's entrance. I looked around the pool area, scanning for more Morningstar, but all I saw was an empty deck bathed in blood. The pool would need to be cleaned out before any the crew used it. " Spostarlo soldato!" She called in Italian. I dumped the now dead Morningstar i had used as my shield and followed her into the building. 

   There was more shooting, killing, it all blurs together after a while. Maria lead me downstairs to the elevator to let the others in, and together we made quick work of the remaining Morningstar.

  "Emanuel you son of a bitch! Long time no see, how's Angelina?" The Boss asked one of the crew members. It occurred to me that Maria took the time to learn the crew's names, as she went around to check up with them after the placed was cleared out. She made a point to talk to every one of them and catch up, even some of the new guys; bruises still fresh from initiation.

  "Boss we got a problem," Shaundi interrupted Maria not long into the process. She said as I noticed some movement from the deck. "We found a bomb and its set to blow."

  "I bet that guy taking off in the helicopter knows how to defuse it." I said, watching the Morningstar get into the chopper. 

  "I want everyone out! Shaundi work on defusing that bomb! Sheldon, with me." The Boss commanded. Everyone immediately obeyed and jumped into action. I followed the Boss out and into a conveniently placed helicopter.     
  "Do you know how to fly?" She asked. 

  "Nope." 

  "Well there's no time like the present Soldato!" She exclaimed and got into the backseat. I sighed and wondered how hard flying a helicopter could be.

  As it turns out, I'm an idiot. What a surprise.

  It would have been easier if the Boss wasn't shooting missiles out of the backseat, laughing like a madman. 

  "Hey Shaundi how's cleanup going?" Maria asked over the comm.  
  "What do I look like the damn maid?" Shaundi asked back. 

  "You'd look cute in the outfit," the Boss remarked. I couldn't help but to laugh at the image of a pissed off Shaundi in a maid outfit. 

  "We're sitting on a bomb here and you're making jokes?" She said, even more pissed than when the conversation started. The helicopter started to make a siren noise. 

  "Well that doesn't sound good." I commented, trying my best to keep the helicopter up while following the Morningstar.

  "Looks like they are headed down anyway," The Boss yelled from the back. She threw a parachute at me. "Time to abandon ship Captain!" I left the pilot seat and quickly put on the chute.

  "What's with you and falling out of the sky?" I asked, getting ready to jump with her.

  "It's a good back-up plan." She laughed, and jumped. I watched her fall for a second. Yeah. I was back on the battlefield alright, it felt right. So I jumped.

 

\------------------------------------------------------

 

  "I'm honestly surprised there aren't more of these guys in here." I said to Sheldon jokingly. He had his jaw set, in soldier mode; it was kinda hot. He definitely has the whole all-american white-skin-blonde-hair-blue-eyes thing going. "Shaundi what are we looking for?" I asked her over the comm.

  "Wires. One red, one blue, one green." She replied. I sighed.

  "How original." I commented and motioned for Sheldon to move up. We cleared out the warehouse easily enough, dodging bullets and taking cover until we got to the Morningstar that we saw leave the party. "You know leaving your guests in the middle of a party is very rude." I told him and Sheldon snickered, wrapping up the remaining guys. I held my assault rifle to his head and he crumbled. 

  "Cut the red wire!" He yelled on his knees.

  "That wasn't so hard was it?" I asked him. "Cut the red wire Shaundi."

  "We're in the clear Boss." She replied, relieved. I smiled at the Morningstar.

  "Good boy. Now I want you to take a message back to Loren and his two whores for me." I told him. He shook with fear.

  "What's the message?" 

  "Non c'è salvezza per i peccatori." I said and shot him in his shoulder. "There is no salvation for sinners." I left him to bleed out, Sheldon waited for me at the entrance of the warehouse.

  "All good?" He asked, like a soldier in attention; awaiting for his orders. 

  "For now Soldato." I answered, leading him to the landed chopper outside of the warehouse. "Let's go see about clean up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is always appreciated! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is always appreciated.


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